Incumbent PM Aleksandr Zakharchenko has won in Sunday’s elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, taking some 75 percent of the votes. In Lugansk, 63 percent have voted for the current leader Igor Plotnitsky.

Lyagin also said he doesn’t give percentage data, because he
thinks that absolute numbers are more open and precise.

Total voter turnout in the Donetsk People’s Republic reached
1,012,682.

In Lugansk, Igor Plotnitsky, the incumbent leader, won with just
over 63 percent of the vote, according to final results provided
by the local Central Election Committee.

Meanwhile, the lead in the parliamentary elections – also held on
Sunday – has been claimed by Zakharchenko's Donetsk Republic
party, which has 662,725 votes, the head of the Election
Commission added. The rival Svobodniy Donbass party has collected
306,892 votes.

In Lugansk, the incumbent leader and head of the Peace to Lugansk
Region movement, Igor Plotnitsky, has won 69,42 percent of votes,
while some 22 percent voted for its closest rival, the Lugansk
Economic Union.

The self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk
took to polling stations to vote for their leaders and MPs on
Sunday. Over 360 polling stations were open in Donetsk for three
million potential voters. Meanwhile, 102 polling stations for
approximately 1.5 million voters were open in Lugansk.

In Lugansk, the overall turnout exceeded 60 percent, according to
the head of the Central Election Commission in the LPR, Sergey
Kozyakov. He added that by 8p.m. local time, nearly 630,000
residents had come to cast their votes.

Kiev has said it will not recognize the elections, as they
contradict Ukrainian legislation. Ukraine’s Security Service has
opened a criminal case against the organizers of the elections in
Donetsk and Lugansk.

EU’s new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has also spoken
out against the elections, arguing that it will be an obstacle to
reconciliation in Ukraine.

“I consider today’s ‘presidential and parliamentary
elections’ in Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ a new
obstacle on the path towards peace in Ukraine. The vote is
illegal and illegitimate, and the European Union will not
recognise it,” Mogherini said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko condemned the elections as
illegitimate on Sunday and called on Russia not to recognize the
results. "I count on Russia not to recognize the so-called
elections because they are a clear violation of the September 5
Minsk protocol, which was also signed by Russia's
representative," he said in a statement.

However, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement late on
Sunday saying that Moscow “respects the expression of will of
the south-eastern [Ukrainians].” The ministry noted a high
turnout and reminded that in the current situation it is
“extremely important” for Kiev to work on conducting
dialogue with the people of the region.

Moscow earlier pointed out that according to the Minsk peace
agreements, elections in both Ukraine and the self-proclaimed
republics should be conducted between October 19 and November 3.

Thus Poroshenko’s order from October 16, which set the date of
elections in the self-proclaimed republics for December 7,
“contradicts the Minsk agreements,” said the Russian
Foreign Ministry.

Ukraine conducted parliamentary elections on October 26.

No serious violations of public order were reported during the
Sunday elections in the DPR. "We have no reports about
incidents at polling stations,” a DPR Interior Ministry
spokesman told TASS news agency. Minor incidents included a false
bomb threat.

International observers said the elections in the self-proclaimed
republics followed democratic standards, adding that they saw no
violations during the process.

An MP from the Upper Chamber of Italy’s Parliament, Lucio Malan,
acting as an observer at the elections in Donetsk, told RT that
people “were not influenced in any way” during the vote.

“The prevention of double or triple voting appeared to be
good, up to international standards” he added.

“What was possible for us to see and what we witnessed is
that they fit completely into generally accepted democratic
electoral standards,” Manuel Ochsenreiter, a German observer
in Lugansk, told RT. “What was really impressing – the
masses of people at the polling stations, standing sometimes for
hours just to put their vote, to express their political
will.”

“First I believe the elections followed international
standards of democratic elections. I was very impressed with the
enthusiasm and the vigor with which the people went to the polls
to express their opinion,” US Senior Attorney Frank
Abernathy, an observer in Lugansk, told RT.